<p>A recent article and subsequent thread in the Parents' Forum made me think to ask this question. I'm not going to link to the article here because I don't want it to bias responses.</p>
<p>Do you feel like you deserve an A or, at the very least, a B if you worked hard and put in a lot of effort in a class?</p>
<p>Do you agree with this statement: "I feel that if I do all of the readings and attend class regularly that I should be able to achieve a grade of at least a B."</p>
<p>What about this one: "If someone goes to every class and reads every chapter in the book and does everything the teacher asks of them and more, then they should be getting an A like their effort deserves."</p>
<p>I'm curious. (I've already graduated from college.)</p>
<p>I feel that going to class and putting forth a good effort is expected of all students, and should not be rewarded with a A. To reward effort with a B, then that depends on the class. If its drama or a freshmen success class then effort should be taken in to account. If were talking about objective classes (math, bio etc) then excellence should be based on quality over effort. Of course I believe this is the case for college, not younger grades kindergarden -8.
The point of going to college is to (1) learn, (2) contribute to the institution and (3) contribute to bodys of knowledge in your field.
Giving it the old college try, while not excelling in your field shouldn’t be enough to be a straight A’s. </p>
<p>Interesting topic, open to a lot of debate.
Cheers!</p>
<p>Not at all. An A should demonstrate mastery of the course material, which is why many college class grades are comprised of midterm and final exams or papers. One of the things that I feel some students have trouble adjusting to is that there isn’t as much busy work in college (at least, in my experience) that can bump up one’s grade. Some classes may have a small component of the grade be comprised of participation (which is one way of grading effort, in my opinion) or problem sets, but the majority of the grade is usually examinations or papers that assess the student’s understanding of the material. Working really hard doesn’t mean you understand the course material, and if this is how grades were doled out, getting an A in any class would be meaningless. You can EASILY attend class and do all the readings and still understand nothing.</p>
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<p>The teacher (especially college professors) ask students to learn and understand the material, first and foremost. In most of my classes, reading, attending lecture, and problem sets were all optional. This isn’t the case with every course, but for mine at least, they were suggestions by the teacher to do well and to understand the material, but doing all of that doesn’t mean anything unless you can prove that you have a mastery of the material in some sort of evaluation. Some students can show that with minimal effort, and others need to work every hard to achieve an A.</p>
<p>College is not middle school. You don’t get a trophy just for “participation.”</p>
<p>In college you are expected to master material, not vie to be teacher’s pet.</p>
<p>Also, exactly how is a professor supposed to know you “tried hard” ? Especially if the results don’t show mastery? And how can the professor distinguish between the person who tried hard and mastered the material, and the person who tried hard, and didn’t–if an A is awarded just for trying?</p>
<p>If “do everything the professor asks of them and then some” means “getting all the questions right and writing brilliant essays” then yes, they should get As, but that’s not because of the effort, that’s because of the fact that the student did extremely well.</p>
<p>OMG, why did the 2nd poster dig up this 4 year old thread!?</p>